Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI (originally released in the US as Final Fantasy III) is a video game originally released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and the Japanese Super Famicom by Squaresoft. Final Fantasy VI was re-released first for the Sony Playstation in Japan as part of a compilation known as Final Fantasy Trilogy (together with Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V) and later in the US in the compilation Final Fantasy Anthology (along with Final Fantasy V). A Playstation port of the game was released in Europe in 2002 along with a trailer of Final Fantasy X. The game was vastly popular in Europe among stores which sold grey-imported games during the mid-1990s.

Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The game is set 1,000 years after the ancient War of the Magi, in which humans and magical beings known as espers fought over the power of magic. The empire that now rules much of the world has developed a strange force known as Magitek (a mixture of magic and technology) and is on the verge of rediscovering magic. A woman named Terra is sent to the town of Narshe with two soldiers from the empire to investigate a frozen esper that has been found there. After finding it, the soldiers are killed by the esper, and Terra is released from the "slave crown" used to control her. After meeting with a thief named Locke, Terra makes her escape from the forces of the empire and joins The Returners, a rebel group that is trying to bring an end to the empire. Together, they journey to stop the empire from gaining the power of magic and stop a potential apocalypse that could result from it.

Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The main playable characters in Final Fantasy VI are (in order of appearance) Terra Branford, Locke Cole, Mog, Edgar Roni Figaro, Sabin Rene Figaro, Shadow, Celes Chere, Cyan Garamonde, Gau, Setzer Gabbiani, Strago Magus, Relm Arrowny, Gogo, and Umaro. Other characters will join the party, but these 14 characters are the only ones the player is able to equip, teach magic to (except for Umaro and Gogo), and otherwise customize. Each individual has their own special ability. There is also the villain Kefka.

Playable Characters' Profiles

• Terra Branford – A woman with the power of magic and the first player-controlled character. Terra was enslaved by the empire for her powers, and she is hunted by her captors after she is released by the frozen esper in Narshe. She joins The Returners to help her escape the empire and find out why she can use magic.
  • Terra's special ability is Morph, which she can access after a plot event. She can transform into a creature of pure magic (and it changes her sprite) for a brief period, which gives her a boost in magical power.

• Locke Cole – A thief (he prefers to be called a "treasure hunter") who finds Terra in Narshe. He helps Terra escape the empire and is responsible for introducing her to The Returners.
  • Locke's special ability is Steal, which allows him to steal items from enemies. When he equips the Thief Glove relic, Steal becomes Capture, which allows him to attack while stealing.

• Edgar Roni Figaro – The king of the kingdom of Figaro and a member of The Returners. Edgar is a relentless lothario, given to flirting with any woman he meets.
  • Edgar's special ability is Tools, which allows him to attack his enemies with a variety of special weapons that he finds over the course of the game.

• Sabin René Figaro – Edgar's younger brother and a martial arts expert. Sabin joins the group after meeting up with them while traveling over a mountain.
  • Sabin's special ability is Blitz, which allows him to use a variety of martial arts abilities activated through complex control-pad motions.

• Shadow – A mysterious ninja and mercenary who works with the group at a few points in the story. He fights along with his dog, Interceptor. He can join the party permanently after a plot event.
  • Shadow's special ability is Throw, which allows him to throw weapons from the party's inventory at his enemies. Interceptor sometimes blocks enemy attacks and counterattacks.

• Celes Chère – A former general for the empire. Celes is jailed by the empire and rescued by Locke. She joins The Returners in their fight against the empire, despite her questionable loyalty.
  • Celes's special ability is Runic, which allows her to absorb any magic spell cast on the battlefield by friend or foe. She is also the only other natural magic-user in the game after Terra.
  • Plays Maria in the aria Aria di Mezzo Carattere.

• Cyan Garamonde – A retainer of the kingdom of Doma. Cyan is the lone survivor of an attack on Doma by the empire, and he joins The Returners to avenge his family and homeland. He has a serious distrust for Celes.
  • Cyan's special ability is SwordTech, which allows him to perform a variety of powerful techniques with his sword, but a special time gauge has to build up before he can use the stronger techniques.

• Gau – A young boy and a feral child. He was abandoned as a baby and was raised by animals in the harsh wilderness known as The Veldt. He makes friends with Sabin and Cyan after they run into him on The Veldt, and he decides to journey with them.
  • Gau's special abilities are Rage and Leap. He can learn the abilities of an animal on The Veldt with Leap and afterwards use those abilities with Rage.

• Setzer Gabbiani – A gambler with an interest in adventure. Setzer is asked to join The Returners so that they can use his airship for transportation. He accepts after losing a (rigged) coin toss to Edgar.
  • Setzer's special ability is Slot. He is able to use a slot machine with special powers to give him random abilities for use in battle. By equipping the Coin Toss relic, Slot becomes GP Rain, which allows him to throw GP (the game's money) at all enemies on screen for an amount of damage equal to the GP lost in the attack.

• Mog – A moogle with the ability to talk like a human. Mog joins The Returners after they save his life from a thief. He is considered by many fans of Squaresoft to be the company's unofficial mascot.
  • Mog's special ability is Dance, which allows him to use a variety of dances to create attacks in battle. Once he starts, he continues to use random dances from the selected dance category until the battle ends or he falls.

• Strago Magus – A descendant of the warriors who fought in the War of the Magi. The Returners meet him while they are passing through the town of Thamasa, and he reluctantly joins them for the safety of the world.
  • Strago's special ability is Lore (also known as Blue Magic), which allows him to learn the magic abilities of enemies and use them as his own. All Lore magic is unique to Strago and different from the normal magic that the other characters can use.

• Relm Arrowny – Granddaughter of Strago and expert artist. She joins The Returners despite Strago's unwillingness to allow her.
  • Relm's special ability is Sketch, which allows her to draw a copy of her enemies that will come to life and attack them. If she equips the Fake Moustache relic, Sketch becomes Control, which allows her to control enemies and use their own attacks.

• Gogo – A mysterious person of whom not much is known (not even the sex) who lives within a creature called Zone Eater. Having him/her join the team is optional.
  • Gogo's special ability is Mimic, which lets him/her use the abilities of his/her teammates after they use them. He/she can also equip a selectable set of abilities from the other characters.

• Umaro – A sasquatch living in the caves of Narshe. He joins the team after Mog talks him into it. Having him join the team is optional.
  • Umaro's special ability is that he can fight without being controlled by the player. By equipping the Blizzard Orb and Rage Ring relics, Umaro's attack power increases and he can use a breath attack.

Non-Playable Characters

• Kefka Palazzo – The first MagiTek Knight created by the Empire and main villain of the game. The process of gaining magic left him more than slightly insane, with a tendency to dress like a jester, but he is not to be underestimated.

• Emperor Gestahl – The ruler of the Empire who desires to rule the world. He imprisoned Kefka for poisoning the city of Doma and tried to stop Kefka from destroying the world. He looked like he died from a lightning bolt after trying to use his magic on Kefka within the vicinty of the ancient statues; but if it didn't, then he almost certainly perished when Kefka shoved him off the Floating Continent.

• Ultros – A lonely octopus that follows the group around the world. He fights them from time to time. He ends up being a receptionist at the Colosseum in the World of Ruin.

Localisation and Censorship

The US-released SNES game is not a straight translation but contains some localisation changes.

The biggest change is the title, which was changed to Final Fantasy III. Final Fantasy II, III, and V were not released in America, so Square of America decided to change the numbers in the US releases to hide the fact that some games in the series did not appear in the US. Thus Final Fantasy IV became "II" and VI became "III". With Final Fantasy VII it was decided to drop the pretense and refer to all subsequent games by their true numbering, leading to an apparent "jump" over 3 games. This continues to cause confusion, with many American fans still referring to this day to IV and VI by the incorrect number.

Unlike the localization of Final Fantasy IV there were no gameplay changes. There are, however, new character names and censorship of elements which may have offended some Americans.

'Well, there's a level of playfulness and – dare I say – sexuality in Japanese games that just doesn't exist here [in the USA], basically because of Nintendo of America's rules and guidelines. And this includes little characters that take their clothes off, or show their bottoms or chests – that Nintendo won't allow over here.'

• Ted Woolsey, FFVI translator (SNES), regarding censorship of the (SNES) US-version of FF IV. RPG special (January, 1995). Super POWER, p. 18. Translation from Swedish to English courtesy of Neil West

(Incomplete) List of changes:

• The graphics on the bar signs have been changed so that they read Cafe instead of Pub.
• Some minor instances of nudity have been covered up.
• Smoke rings coming from a pipe have been removed.
• Many spell and monster names were changed. To take just one example, the early "Leafy Rabbit" creature became simply a "Leafer" in the English release. Notably the spell name "Holy" was changed to "Pearl", likely for fear of offending American religious groups: this change was not good gameplay-wise however, as it obscured the fact that "Holy" was white magic and effective against evil-alignment creatures.
• Many bugs identified in the original Japanese version were corrected, or worked around. For example, the Opera House rat glitch, the mosaic effect glitch, the 256th item equip glitch, and the Merit Award + Atma Weapon on Gau glitch. Interestingly, the mosaic effect glitch occurs in the PlayStation re-release in America, even though it did not in the original SNES release.
• One major bug, unfortunately, was added in the American release. If Relm's Sketch command fails, an uninitialized pointer in the game's programming could cause many damaging effects, such as the loss of all saved games. Later Final Fantasy III SNES cartridges corrected this, as well as the PlayStation re-release.

Name changes of major characters:

Japanese	Romaji	Designers' Intention	US
ティナ	Tina	Tina	Terra
マッシュ	Masshu	Mash	Sabin
カイエン	Kaien	Cayenne	Cyan
ストラゴス	Sutoragosu	Stragos	Strago
ガストラ	Gasutora	Gastora	Gestahl
アルテマウェポン	Arutema Uepon	Ultima Weapon	Atma Weapon
ケット・シー	Ketto Shii	Cait Sith	Stray
ミドガルズオルム	Midogaruzuorumu	Midgardsormr (*)	Terrato

(*) The English Final Fantasy VII called this creature Midgar Zolom. See Midgard for its roots in Norse mythology.

Note that many of the changes to playable character names are simply reasonable approximations of the original names within 6-character limits. However, Tina to Terra and Mash to Sabin are intentional name changes, which were likely made because these two names have very different connotations depending on culture. In Japanese Tina sounds exotic and intriguing because of its rare "Ti" sound, whereas in America it is an everyday name. Mash does not sound attractive to many English speakers' ears. Interestingly, two characters from Final Fantasy VII appeared in this game, but English players were not aware of this due to the name changes. They are Cait Sith and Midgar Zolom (a snake swimming on the world map of VII).

In an infamous mistake, the minor characters Biggs and Wedge, clearly named in reference to Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles from Star Wars, were translated as Vicks and Wedge. Chrono Trigger repeated this mistake, having been also translated by Ted Woolsey. However, in Final Fantasy VII, as well as the PlayStation re-releases of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, this was corrected.

Music

Many fans regard the music in this game, especially at the end, as refreshingly new.

Nobuo Uematsu's work truly shines in this game and he makes extensive use of leitmotifs in Wagnerian fashion.

CDs

The following are the official Final Fantasy VI CDs:

• Final Fantasy VI Piano Collections
• Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version
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